Listen to the Kids* Bro!
May 7, 2016 by Charity Parsons, Ed.S.
*Note: I know that “kids” are baby goats and students are learners, children, young professionals in training. For the purpose of his entry, the kids are the learners 🙂
Passionate and polarizing, Kanye West ofttimes drops pearls of wisdom. In his 2015 MTV Vanguard speech, before declaring a 2020 bid for presidency, Yeezy emphatically suggested that we all:
"LISTEN TO THE KIDS, BRO!"
And I must admit that it stuck with me!
The magic of teaching lies in respecting the students and actually HONORING who they are and the world in which they live.
Take this 2015 Tweet gone viral: –> –> –> -> –>
EDUCATION is the one conduit we all know to connect us to our world. @Woot_God is letting us know that when he’s in school, there are NO connections to his world.
The duty and beauty of crafting effective lessons lies in the ability to – dare I say – “Listen to the Kids Bro!”
Step TWO: Empower Students with Choices
What choices can students make in the day to day? Small choices can include:
Leverage these smaller choices to create a classroom environment in which students will feel empowered to make larger conceptual choices:
No matter where you start, it’s all about procedures and practices that just become the way your classroom “does school”. Habitual success! YES!
Step THREE: Reflections Build Connections
The idea here is to provide prompts for discussion or journal entry that encourage students to think about the WHAT, WHY, and HOW of the learning. There are connections between the concepts students are learning and the learning experiences/activities/tasks. We have to first understand these connections for ourselves so that we can strategically & overtly plan to help our students uncover the same connections. Here are some basic questions students could answer every single day to connect to instruction:
What am I learning?
Why am I learning this?
How am I learning this?
How do I use my learning outside of the classroom?
Here’s a list of 40 Reflection Questions you can infuse into day to day instruction.
~~~~~~~~~
Passionate and polarizing, Kanye West ofttimes drops pearls of wisdom. In his 2015 MTV Vanguard speech, before declaring a 2020 bid for presidency, Yeezy emphatically suggested that we all:
"LISTEN TO THE KIDS, BRO!"
And I must admit that it stuck with me!
The magic of teaching lies in respecting the students and actually HONORING who they are and the world in which they live.
Take this 2015 Tweet gone viral: –> –> –> -> –>EDUCATION is the one conduit we all know to connect us to our world. @Woot_God is letting us know that when he’s in school, there are NO connections to his world.
The duty and beauty of crafting effective lessons lies in the ability to – dare I say – “Listen to the Kids Bro!”
So let’s keep it simple….
Step ONE: Listen to the kids! …duh!
Student voice is crucial to building the connections. How often do we truly sit down and converse with our students about the things that actually interest them? Black males especially need to know that their cultural delights are just as valid as the ones mandated by curricula.
Step ONE: Listen to the kids! …duh!
Student voice is crucial to building the connections. How often do we truly sit down and converse with our students about the things that actually interest them? Black males especially need to know that their cultural delights are just as valid as the ones mandated by curricula.
- Power Up your Student Survey Usage! Listen to the music they listen to, checkout the blogs, books, memes they love.
- I dare you to connect Pop Culture to Shakespearean Literature.
- Need Inspiration? Check out the VICE YouTube Noisey Channel for a variety of topics and connections
- I DOUBLE DOG dare you to ask students to bring in their own lyrical analyses and comparisons! I promise you’ll be amazed!
- Why is the #RunningManChallenge so popular and how might you leverage it to teach crucial skills such as Creativity and Collaboration?
Step TWO: Empower Students with Choices
What choices can students make in the day to day? Small choices can include:
- Homework: Give students a choice of items to work on that will help them practice the same skill, no matter which items they select.
- Seating: Every now and then, switch things up and let students choose a partner with whom to discuss certain tasks or prompts.
- Celebrations of Learning: Public displays of final products and “Show What You Know Walls” displaying works chosen by the students themselves are quick and easy ways to celebrate the learning moments that make students proud along the way.
Leverage these smaller choices to create a classroom environment in which students will feel empowered to make larger conceptual choices:
- Assessment: Allow students the choice to select which items on a test they would like to complete. Perhaps even have the students reflect and tell why they selected each item to justify their choice.
- Products/Demonstrations of Learning: Just like on a test, students can decide HOW they want to demonstrate their learning.
- Readings/Viewings: As students become more aware of the conceptual connections being made, they too can provide ideas of instructional resources.
No matter where you start, it’s all about procedures and practices that just become the way your classroom “does school”. Habitual success! YES!
Step THREE: Reflections Build Connections
The idea here is to provide prompts for discussion or journal entry that encourage students to think about the WHAT, WHY, and HOW of the learning. There are connections between the concepts students are learning and the learning experiences/activities/tasks. We have to first understand these connections for ourselves so that we can strategically & overtly plan to help our students uncover the same connections. Here are some basic questions students could answer every single day to connect to instruction:
What am I learning?
Why am I learning this?
How am I learning this?
How do I use my learning outside of the classroom?
Here’s a list of 40 Reflection Questions you can infuse into day to day instruction.
~~~~~~~~~
Give it a try and let us know how you “Listen to the Kids Bro!”
Please share in the comments section below or on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram @iDoSchool
Please share in the comments section below or on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram @iDoSchool